The Church Is Not Glocal -- It's Catholic, pt. I

Part One of Three (Probably)

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I just spent the weekend at Synod Assembly: three full days of Lutherans, workshops, and worship.

Synodical/diocesan/conference meetings can serve as wonderful testing grounds for new hymns, prayers, and liturgical settings. The assembled clergy and (involved) laity provide fertile soil for broadening the Church's "tastes." Prayers and readings in foreign languages, folk hymns from other cultures, and a wide variety of musical settings can emphasize that the Church is truly universal.

Within the ELCA, we have started using the term "glocal" to describe the intersection of global and local cultures within the contexts of worship and mission.  (It accompanies a shift in "missional" practices -- but more on that later.) One of this movement's stated goals is to, "Learn to lead inviting worship that includes global voices." Surely, this is a worthwhile goal.

Unfortunately, several major problems exist within this movement. We are going about it all wrong.

The first two are closely related and rather ironic: cultural blindness and appropriation -- dare I say, imperialism.

At Synod Assembly, we utilized a "Hispanic Creed" that reads as follows:

We believe in God, the Father Almighty,
Creator of the heavens and the earth;
Creator of all peoples and all creatures;
Creator of all tongues and races. 

We believe in Jesus Christ, his Son, our Lord,
God made flesh in a person for all humanity,
God made flesh in an age for all the ages,
God made flesh in one culture for all cultures,
God made flesh in love and grace for all creation. 

We believe in the Holy Spirit,
Through whom God incarnate in Jesus Christ
Makes his presence known in our peoples and our cultures;
Through whom God Creator of all that exists, gives us power to become new creatures;
Whose infinite gifts make us one people: the body of Christ. 

We believe in the Church Universal because it is a sign of God's reign,
Whose faithfulness is shown in its many hues
Where all the colors paint a single landscape,
Where all tongues sing the same praise. 

We believe in the Reign of God --
The day of the Great Fiesta
When all the colors of creation will form a harmonious rainbow,
When all peoples will join in joyful banquet,
When all tongues of the universe will sing the same song. 

And because we believe, we commit ourselves:
To believe for those who do not believe,
To love for those who do not love,
To dream for those who do not dream,
Until the day when hope becomes reality.
Amen.

Ignoring the theological issues with this creed (such as the fact that it doesn't mention Christ's Passion or Resurrection, nor does it mention the Resurrection of the body), the question still remains: why? The Apostles' and Nicene Creeds both translate into Spanish. The ELCA even publishes a Spanish translation of our liturgy for the Divine Service. In fact, there was a sample copy of this liturgy on display just outside the plenary hall.

Instead, we recited the above. The above creed isn't particularly Hispanic -- except for the reference to the "Great Fiesta," nor did we recite it in Spanish. So, praytell, what makes this a "Hispanic" creed?

Likewise, one of the "Glocal" musicians, a middle age white woman, ended every verse of several hymns by yelling "Yai yai yai yai yai!" Is that sound indigenous to the culture from which we are borrowing the music? If so, when is it used and for what reason? Or, as I suspect, is she adopting a (mildly offensive) stereotype in the name of appearing multicultural?

The problem here is not "borrowing" songs, readings, and prayers from other cultures. The Synod to which I belong has members who speak Telugu, German, Swahili, Korean, and Spanish as their native tongue -- and who worship in these languages every week. In the context of corporate worship, it is indeed right, our duty, and our joy to read from Scripture, to sing songs, and pray in those languages and to be lead by members of those parishes. Though, at this point, it's not that we are "borrowing" anything. Instead, we are simply worshiping with our brothers and sisters in their native tongues.

Instead, the issue is that we are reducing these cultures to a commodity. We are ripping them from their unique settings and turning them into a product to be swapped. We don't understand what we are doing -- or for that matter, what we are saying. Anyone who has ever compared a translated hymn to its original text knows that translators often go off in a completely different direction. When we sing: "Amen, bawo," and you tell me it means "Amen, amen," I can tell you're lying. You are asking me to use a language without knowing what it is I'm singing or why I'm singing it, you are asking me to be an accomplice in cultural commodification.

In an attempt to be multicultural -- which I firmly believe the Church should be -- we have done violence to the cultures we are trying to embrace. We have become cultural  raiders, burning down that which we don't understand and plundering anything with a catchy melody.

The irony here is that we do this to replace a liturgy which translates into any language. The Church's historic liturgy transcends time, space, culture, ethnicity, and
language. That is, catholic worship is by its very nature multicultural.